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Apache Helicopter Goes Down in Iraq, No Injuries Reported

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2004  An Apache helicopter went down near Fallujah, Iraq, today according to U.S. Central Command officials. There were no injuries and the incident is under investigation.

One Task Force 1st Armored Division soldier was killed and two others were wounded at about 10 a.m. Jan. 12 when their convoy was attacked by an improvised explosive device in central Baghdad, according to a CENTCOM news release.

The names and units of the soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The incident is under investigation.

Shells discovered by Danish and Icelandic troops in the Iraqi desert north of Basra "exhibit some characteristics that we would expect from blister agents," said Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director for Combined Joint Task Force 7, during a briefing from Baghdad Jan. 12. The general said tests were being conducted on the rounds that were "quite probably 10 to 20 years old and from the Iran-Iraq War."

In other CENTCOM news, high-ranking members of the Baath Party renounced party affiliation at a Jan. 12 meeting in Tallafar in northwestern Iraq, while fellow Iraqis and leaders from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) witnessed.

In addition to renouncing their party affiliation, said a CENTCOM release, the officials turned in weapons to Col. Michael Linnington, commander, 187th Infantry Regiment, and Lt. Col. Christopher Pease, commander, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, who handed the weapons over to local police.

More than 120 AK-47 assault rifles and three machine guns were handed in. "These weapons will be used for the future security force of this country," Linnington said. "The goal is Iraq for Iraqis."